Alfalfa-feed cutter and grinder.



W. MIKS.

ALFALPA FEED CUTTER AND GRINDER.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 28, 190B.

Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

Wit" eases COLUMBIA PLANOQRAPH 60.. WASHINGTON. D. C.

WALTER MIKS, OF MAYFIELD, KANSAS.

ALFALFA-IEEED CUTTER AND GRINDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

Application filed September 28, 1908. Serial No. 454,988.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER Mike, a citizen of the United States,residing at Mayfield, in the county of Sumner and State of Kansas, haveinvented a new and useful Alfalfa-Feed Cutter and Grinder, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The device herein disclosed is adapted to be employed for cutting andgrinding alfalfa and like forage crops, and the invention aims toprovide a machine of this type embodying a novel arrangement of heaters,positioned in a novel manner with respect to a delivery conveyer, withrespect to the cutting cylinders, and with respect to the concave;whereby a high degree of efiiciency in operation will he obtained.

In the accompanying drawings :Figure l is a vertical sectional viewthrough a feedcutter constructed in accordance with my invention, andFig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view therethrough, the cylinders beingshown in plan and being partly broken away to disclose the screens ofthe feedcutter. Fig/3 is a detail perspective view of a portion of thescreen supporting bar.

As shown in the drawings, the feedcutter embodying my invention ismounted in a frame which is indicated in general by the referencecharacter A, and may be of any suitable construction, the cuttingcylinders, and, in fact, the major portion of the mechanism of thecutter, being housed in a hopper which is arranged in the said frame,the side walls of the hopper being indicated by the numeral 5, and thedownwardly converged end walls by the numeral 6, said hopper terminatingat its lower end in a laterally extending spout 7, through which the cutand ground feed is to be blown by means of a fan 8, mounted in thehopper at the said lower end thereof. The frame A also supports ahousing 9, provided in one side wall with an opening 10, through whichthe feed to he cut is to be introduced, an endless conveyer, ofconventional form,

11, being arranged to that side of the said housing 9 in which theopening 10 is provided, it being understood that the feed to be cut andground is placed or thrown upon this conveyer 11 and is carried therebyto the opening 10, it being forced or beaten through the opening by aheater 12 upon a heater shaft 13, journaled immediately in advance ofthe said opening. Another beater-shaft 1a is journaled just below thelower edge of the opening 10 and within the housing 9 and the heatersupon the latter shaft serve to force the hay or the like down into themachine after it has been fed through the opening 10, there being alsoprovided, for this purpose, a heater drum 15, which drum is locatedwithin the housing 9 and opposite the opening 10 in the wall of thehousing.

Shafts, 16 and 17, are journaled in the sides 5 of the hopper and uponthese shafts respectively are fixed drums or cylinders 18 and 19 whichare provided with teeth or cutting fingers 20. The two cylinders 18 and19 are mounted opposite each other and in close proximity, so that asthey are r0- tated, the teeth on one pass between the teeth on theother. The feeding mechanism embodying the heaters and conveyer isarranged so as to discharge the hay into the machine at a point betweenthe two cutting cylinders, and, as will presently be explained, thesecylinders are to be rotated toward each other, one faster than theother.

As shown, in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the walls 6 of the hopper arecurved at their upper portions to inclose the respective cylinders, and,in order to completely inclose the cylinders and to provide for thesifting of the feed, a curved screen sheet 21 is secured at its outeredges to the walls 6 of the hopper, and at its center face or base tothe lower edges of a bar 22, which is substantially triangular in crosssection and which extends from one to the other of the walls 5 of thehopper and between the cylinders 18 and 19, but in a plane below theplane in which their shafts are located, the inclined sides of the barbeing substantially tangential to the circles described by the points ofthe cylinder teeth.

From the foregoing it will be seen that sufiicient room is left for thehay to be fed between the cylinders, but that'beyond this the cylindersare inclosed or closely enveloped each in a separate casing.

The hay, in its passage between the cylinders, is cut or beaten intosmall lengths or fragments, and, in order to provide for grinding of thehay, I form the bar 22 with teeth 23, which are located upon theinclined sides of the bar, and preferably in staggered relation, so thatthe teeth upon the cylinders will pass between them as the cylinders arerotated.

Pulleys, 24: and 25, are fixed upon the 19 rotate toward each other.

shafts 16 and 17 respectively and a belt 26 is trained over the pulleys,the pulley 25 being of less diameter than the pulley 24, so that thecylinder 19 will be rotatedat a higher rate of speed than the cylinder18. A belt 27 is passed over a pulley 28 fixed upon the shaft 16 andover a power pulley (not shown).

From the foregoing description of my in vention it will be understoodthat hay or the like is placed upon the conveyer 11 and is fed into themachine and between the two cylinders 18 and 19. In its passage betweenthese cylinders the hay is cut into bits or short lengths and is finallyground by the cooperation of the cylinder teeth with the teeth upon thebar, the ground feed being then agitated by the cylinder teeth andcaused to sift through the screen. Finally it is blown by the fan 8, outthrough the discharge spout 7. 7

It is to be noted that the cylinders 18 and Moreover, the primarycylinder 19 rotates at a higher rate of speed than does the secondarycylinder- 18. Owing to this fact, there will be an accumulation ofmaterial below the cylinder 19, above the fan 8, and at the base of thatwall 6 which serves as a guide for the cylinder 19. A. clogging up ofthe device due to the uneven depositing of material, resulting from themore rapid rotation of the primary cylinder 19, will be avoided, owingto the fact that, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, the fan 8 is adapted torotate in a common direction with the more rapidly rotating primarycylinder 19. The fan 8, being journaled close to that wall 6 whichreceives the material from the cylinder 19, will urge the material frombeneath the cylinder 19, and maintain the cut material in the hopperatgan even level.

Having described my invention, what I claim and-desire tosecure, byLetters Patent, is

1. In a device of the class described, a

housing provided with an opening conveyer positioned to discharge intothe housing, through the opening; a beater supported for rotation aboveone end of the conveyer, and upon the outside of the housing, adjacentthe top of the opening; a second beater supported for rotation inside ofthe housing, adjacent the bottom of the opening; a third beatersupported for rotation in the housing opposite the opening, and abovethe second beater; and cutting mechanism within the housing, below thesecond and third beaters. H

2. In a device of the class described, a housing having an opening;means upon the outside of the housing for delivering the materialthrough the opening; abeater supported for rotation in the housing,below the opening; a second beater, of larger diameter than the first,supported for rotation above the first heater, and located opposite tothe opening; cutting cylinders supported for rotation in thehousingbelow the beaters; and a coneavelocatedbet-ween the cylinders,and positioned directly beneath the second beaten In testimony that Iclaim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in thepresence two witnesses.

WALTER MIKS.

Witnesses:

JOHN J. Prrrs, Gno. W. LooKE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Gommissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). C.

